Tyranny of choices

[spicemustflow]

Do you suffer from it? It takes me hours sometimes to decide what I'd like to play and where? Exploring the wastes, skulking through the rinth, should I be an assassin but mercenary sounds cool too, oh, and what about the trader (well, not trader, really). The main problem is that whenever I went through agony of making my character there is a thought in the back of my head: "Maybe you should've picked that ranger...". Sometimes I invest in the characters background and personality and am satisfied and enjoying playing it, which makes me break stuff when said character dies.

So, Anyone here suffers from the tyranny of choices too? And how do you deal with it?

[Maybe42or54]

No, not really. When in doubt, I choose the Shadow.

However this is my way of deciding:
What class do I want?
Which city is easier on this class?
Do I want it more difficult?
Where'd I play last?
Did I like those Pcs?
Do I want to play with them?

[Lizzie]

I'm a twink. My criteria for new characters is usually:

1. What skill(s) have I discovered I absolutely can't stand not having?

2. What class/subclass combos provide me with #1?

3. Which of those seem to have the most opportunities for coded usefulness?

Go through all that, come up with a handful of options, and then...

1. Where can these things be the most fun to roleplay (what starting location)?

2. What kind of person would my character be, to have those skills and be from those locations? (a silk-wearing fancy-talking type, a rough-and-tumble type, just some poor shmoe who isn't crude, per se, but never had any use for particularly high standards...etc.

And then I add the basic requirement: whatever character I create, -must- be able to craft something besides just cooking. I play at odd hours sometimes (the middle of the day) and solo-emoting just to watch something scroll up on the screen is exquisitely boring to me. Solo-emoting out crafting sessions is tolerable.

I haven't run out of characters yet, and I am still learning which of those coded skills I can't live without. I can even make exceptions for some, if my character can instead do something else. So it's fun ruling out the "not gonna happen" and seeing what's left over that I'd try next. But for me, the roleplay is already a given, so I don't spend much effort thinking about it. When it comes to me picking a new character, it's all about the code.

[Agent_137]

I have only two questions:

What Haven't I done yet (besides play in tuluk)?

Of what's left, what sounds most interestig?

[Marauder Moe]

What do I want to play that probably won't be in the new game?

[Morrolan]

I know what I like to play, and what I play fairly well (i.e. survivable and decently played).  I tend to stick within that framework most of the time.  There are whole races I have never had much of an urge to play, though I have run much of the gamut of combat-classes.  The only class I can think of that I have not played (that I have karma for, duh!) is merchant.

I never wanted that much power.  

I like to think it terms of roles I would enjoy playing.  Race is a way of pre-defining my relationships with other characters.

Maybe it's the desire to create a story-arc, but I'd rather start a character as a salt-grebber or obsidian-miner or scavenger, and allow them to grow from there.  Sometimes I will play for as long as a RL month before I begin to allow the character to 'adventure' at all.  I have found that this gives my character a much richer background.

When the character can say, gesturing to his mount, "Oh, yeah, I got raided back when I was a 'sid-miner.  Negotiated the jerk down to a couple of bracers and a dagger, and kept old Marta here," I find it gives the character a ring of truth that otherwise might be lacking.  Playing part of the "prologue" also allows the character to start "adventuring" with a few friends, firmed-up speech patterns, some decent non-newb equipment, and a purpose for doing incredibly dangerous things other than "thrill-seeking."

My interests, and my character's "interests" as much as they might differ from mine, dictate the path they take.  I just like to start the story a little earlier.  A few weeks of the proverbial "minding the farm" seems to go a long way to define my characters' motivations, and often in surprising ways.

Morrolan

[flurry]

Usually I don't have too much trouble settling on one concept, although it might take some brainstorming and piecing together of fragmented ideas. I consider it very important to factor in your playing style and interests.

I have a practice that helps me limit some of my choices. When I lose a character, I do everything I can to make it a clean break.  I don't want to play around the same characters.  I don't want to play in the same clan.  I don't want a new character who is anything like my previous one.  I find this tremendously helpful.  It challenges me to try different things, keeping things new and interesting.  It helps me stay away from old patterns and habits, or getting swept up into the same plots.  Seeing the gameworld from a variety of different perspectives is refreshing.  It's an approach I swear by, and I know I'm not the only one.

[psionic fungus]

I have a very different problem:  not enough choice.

I tend to think up my characters' personalities, backgrounds, motivations, goals, and physical descriptions first, and then attempt to fit these concepts into the molds that Armageddon provides... I often find my choice of molds to be unsatisfactory.

I'll leave it at that. 

[jstorrie]

I choose for purely aesthetic reasons. Whichever concept is, in my mind, coolest at the time. If I end up changing my mind very quickly, I retire.

[Only He Stands There]

I get a basic, general concept in mind while playing my previous character. When time rolls around, I've got the character all ready to whip up and submit.

[aruna]

So, Anyone here suffers from the tyranny of choices too? And how do you deal with it?

I deal with it by playing too-long-lived characters. Plenty of time to ponder. 

This thread has made me want to store for the first time in a while.

[Seeker]

My criteria is pretty straight-forward:

How can I design a character that will be in the perfect position to become AC's evil arch-nemesis? Again.


Seeker

[Shiroi Tsuki]

I deal with this by writing up about a character a week, and then socking that file off into my growing pile of 'character concepts I might want to play some day'.  Then I have one premade and ready to toss into the creator in the unfortunate circumstance of my current character's demise.  I also have some ready to send off to Imms should they ask for apps for specific sponsored roles I want to play.

Usually how I make a character goes like this.

1.  What personality do I want them to have?  Is this going to be hard or difficult to play?  Should I do some research to read up on how people like this actually think?

2.  What goals do I have for this character?  What kind of things do I OOCly want to accomplish with him?  What kind of things would he ICly want to accomplish for himself?  (or her/herself)

3.  What kind of job do I want them to find/do for themselves when they get into the game?

4.  How does this job fit in with their personality and goals?

5.  What kind of class/subclass combination do I want to use to portray this?

6.  Does this even seem playable?  Does this seem like something I would enjoy?  Is this role going to satisfy me as a player?  (if no, start over)

>.>  At this time I probably have about 12 viable character concepts lying around; about 15 if I include the ones I wrote up for shits and giggles.  This may qualify me as insane.  It's just what I do when I have downtime.

[Spoon]

This is my personal opinion, but unless I have a PC in a position of power (ie. generating RP for other characters), an abundance of money can be about the most dull thing I can imagine. I LOVE that first few days where you starting sid is counting down and you've got to struggle to eat and drink.

My proposal is that you pick a guild and subguild that you are clueless about, having no idea how to sustain themselves with prior IC knowledge, which we all use whether we like it or not.

Play someone poor and high risk. You'll never end up sitting in a tavern bored, considering storing them.

[Maybe42or54]

Well, I missunderstood what your original question was.

How I decide which skills/class to pick is pretty simple.
What has the playerbase been complaining about recently?
If the GDB is rife with anti-pick-pocket hatred, then I will roll up a pick-pocket.

I don't know why.... It is more fun I guess.

[jhunter]

What has the playerbase been complaining about recently?

  BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!